Therapy

For the first time in my life, I’ve decided to reach out to a few therapists.

It’s not that I’ve reached a point of despair, it’s that I recognise there are issues I ought to understand better before it gets worse.

Waiting till things are catastrophically bad to ask for help is a little like waiting for your car to completely break down before taking it to a mechanic.

Which is objectively a fucking stupid idea.

If you’re thinking about it, I say go early.

You’ve got this.

Kindness

“Oh man, you shouldn’t have”.

Kindness is a high leverage act.

Even mere considerations often result in an effect far greater than the effort put in.

And when we consider the asymmetry in perceived value vs. effort it is almost absurd not to choose kindness when we can.

Sure, acts of kindness do go unnoticed and we may feel short changed too.

But someone who habitually practices kindness never goes unnoticed for long.

Deep

The quickest way out of mediocrity is to go one layer deeper than others.

Precisely one layer deeper it freaks out average artists.

Most average artists like to dip their toes in too many things. It’s fairly shallow, barely fresh and driven by boredom.

But when we decide to go deep, deeper than most other people, we get access to a wealth of untouched ideas.

It’s an easier life there than the turbulent surface.

Go deep.

Proud

I think a more helpful definition of finished, lies in the word proud, rather than perfect.

Proud still allows us the humility to say “I know it’s not perfect but I like it”.

But accepting not perfect is the only way to finish an idea.

Be proud, not perfect.

That’s good enough.

Proxy

People don’t want screens. They want a distraction from boredom.

People don’t want certificates. They want a guarantee for success.

People don’t want fancy watches. They want admiration and respect.

The proxy of our desires start to feel like they matter more than their purpose.

But losing sight of purpose is when things starts to feel empty.

Purpose over proxy.

Meaning

Isn’t Lorem Ipsum so beautiful?

Said no one ever.

Because the function of Lorem Ipsum is to fill space without imparting meaning.

There is plenty of musical Lorem Ipsum out there, just to fill space, not to bother you, not to stimulate you.

And like typographers work hard on spacing, kerning and serif, we can go deep on harmony, sound design and technique.

But if an idea is fundamentally meaningless, making it pretty still makes it meaningless.

Which is fine if it’s just to fill space.

Fear

Palpitations are feelings of your heart beating very fast.

It happens when you approach your crush, it happens when you nearly die.

Fear physiologically feels identical to excitement.

And when you feel a little scared about sharing your next piece of work..

You’re onto something exciting.

Weather

I have wondered if weather is the most boring conversation possible.

Unless severe, it lacks tension, drama and excitement.

Except, it’s also a chance to enjoy a small moment to feel it with someone else.

Weather chat is not really about the weather.

It is about a shared feeling.

Steal

Good artists steal all the time. But not how you think they do.

Let’s pretend artists are flowers.

Average artists look at good artists and copy the head. Slap on some petals and hope it sticks.

Good artists look at other good artists and examine their root structure. Then adopt it to theirs, and grow their own flower head.

Here, the more obvious you are about it, the less effective it is.

Stealing like an artist is taking the deeper things.

Limitations

The traditional Japanese Haiku format has exceptionally stringent limitations.

It must 1) be a single stanza with a 5-7-5 syllable structure 2) include a seasonal reference and 3) contain a Kireji phoneme.

We’d think that these constraints really stifle what poets can express through this format.

But it’s precisely these limitations that elevate Haiku poems to the status of national treasure.

Limitations allow us to condense our energy into a format that bangs hard.

If stuck, add another constraint.

Clarity

Here’s the thing about every idea that enters your track.

They are all characters entering a room with something to say.

Aimlessly introducing many different characters in one track often makes the space feel cramped rather than exciting.

So artists with clarity, punch and conviction use fewer ideas but give them more depth, than pile on shallow characters who don’t have much to add to the conversation.

Clarity is giving less more.

Lean

Here are some facts about the leaning tower of Pisa:

⁃ Height: 55.86m

⁃ Weight: 14,500 tonnes

⁃ Steps: 295

⁃ Incline: 3.9 degrees (post restoration)

The main fact that makes this tower notable is its biggest design flaw - the incline from miscalculating the foundation’s stability.

Sometimes, leaning into imperfections makes for the most interesting idea.

Spirit

Stock art is a certain vibe, which can be summarised as:

“Stereotypes of a genre without its spirit”

And when we take superficial details from a genre without really understanding the spirit of it, we’re probably just making stock art.

Approaching a new genre starts with understanding its spirit.

Artefacts

I often think of sound passed through analogue circuits like photos on film.

The noise floor, pitch fluctuation, harmonic distortion and tapered high frequencies.

It reminds me of that romantic, nostalgic quality that only comes with those imperfections.

It’s made me wonder why so many of us are drawn to these old mediums.

And I think it’s because these rich artefacts are great metaphors for how nothing in reality is perfect.

Which feels beautiful to me.

Perfect

Perfect only exists as a concept.

The moment conceptual perfect is manifested, it’s eroded by the fabric of reality.

And so a mistake is to apply the parameters of conceptual perfect to define finished.

A more liberating approach is to assess unexpected quirks and accidents in your work to see how it can serve your message.

And if it happens to serve your message well, then there need be no reason to continue clinging onto conceptual perfect.

It already is.

Chisoku

Do you have enough?

How would you know?

Because it’s easy to pick an unrealistic standard to conclude our lives are lacking.

Chisoku is the Japanese word to feel sufficient, to be satisfied with what we have.

When we are never Chisoku, we live a dystopia where nothing is ever ok.

And the good simply falls by the way side.

Beyond our basic needs, enough isn’t a matter of abundance.

It’s a matter of choice.

Kintsugi

We are all broken in some way.

And we’re doing our best to repair it.

Kintsugi is the Japanese technique of repairing broken pottery with golden lacquer.

When we repair our breaks and celebrate them as part of who we’ve been, we glow in a way that confounds perfectionism.

It’s a beautiful sight to see someone overcome crisis and wear their scars on their sleeves gracefully.

We can still glow after we break.

Imperfection

Everything about you is imperfect.

Your face isn’t symmetrical. You have a weird laugh. And you like that hat way too much.

And that’s okay, because that’s what people like about you.

Wabi-Sabi is the Japanese philosophy on aesthetics that reminds us imperfect is beautiful.

It’s the rustic edge that gives you depth. The vulnerability that makes you relatable. The honesty that makes you real.

You are imperfect and that is what feels perfect.